Heinrich Schliemann’s career in archaeology didn’t start off very well. A successful businessmen, he was besotted with Homer and hoped to find the remains of cities that figured in Homer’s epics. But he was untrained in the field and therefore an amateur. In 1870, in his 40s, Schliemann began excavating an area in Turkey that promised hidden Trojan treasures. He miscalculated the depth of the pit, however, and destroyed important layers of the site. In 1873, his fortunes changed with the discovery of what he called Priam’s Treasure—10,000 objects belonging to Troy’s mythical king. In this exhibition, 700 objects celebrate the bicentenary of Schliemann’s birth. —E.C.